Infinite Crisis: When It Matters Most
by djb21212-Steeldramon21
Summary: In the wake of a shattered friendship, two of Earth's greatest heroes come to terms with who they were, what a Crisis has made them, and what they must now become. SMWW friendship with SBWG and SMLL hinted. Based in Infinite Crisis 5 onward. Enjoy!
1. Part 1

Infinite Crisis

Ut Is Res Plurimus… (When It Matters Most...)

Written by: djb21212

Disclaimer: DC Comics owns their characters. I just own this story.

"I'm only trying to help!" Diana called to the angry mob of rioters and onlookers as they ran away from her, more frightened of the one-time heroine than each other's weapons. She had returned to Boston, a city she had allowed herself to consider a second home, to deal with the mass of riots and disasters sweeping the former 'city of Independence' lately. It was like this in every city on Earth, humanity stricken with confusion and anger interlaced with fear. Some of it, she had come to admit lately, was her own doing.

There was blood on her hands now, hands that once could gently caress but still fight. It was the criminal blood of Maxwell Lord but still blood, a crimson stain that marked her like an invisible scarlet letter. Most of her peers avoided her at best, yet none condemned her more than the one-time friend she saved. It was his look of shock and judgment that shook her being, something that seemed to mar her flawless form more than any weapon could. She had done it to save him, to avenge the murder of a fallen comrade. Yet none of it mattered.

Nothing seemed to matter anymore.

Diana's reverie was broken by the sound of an aircraft, the wind blowing her long ebony hair around her face. She moved it out of her eyes and gasped at what she saw. It was an invisible plane, somewhat similar to the jet she once used. The design seemed to invoke something else as its cockpit opened, a sense of both nostalgia and fear sweeping through her Amazon blood.

"…Mother?" Diana managed to say as she gazed upon the seemingly-familiar passenger, at first thinking that she was her long-dead mother and former Amazon queen, Hyppolyta. The woman stood there as she shook her head, her hands placed on her hips as blue eyes met blue eyes.

"I'm afraid not." The woman answered, seeing the confusion written on Diana's face. "My name is Diana Prince, and the fate of the universe is at hand." She extended a hand to her, realization crossing the mind of her namesake as they grasped hands to board the craft. She bore a striking resemblance to Hyppolyta as well as Diana but there was no mistake. This was her Earth-2 counterpart, possibly here to replace her the same way Superman was to do with his doppelganger.

"You're… you're me?" Diana asked as the invisible plane went airborne once again. "You're the Wonder Woman of Earth-2?"

The older Diana nodded as she piloted the craft upward into the skies of Boston. "I left the island in the same way as you, seeking adventure and fascinated by Man's World… and trying to win the heart of a boy." She smiled at the pleasant memory of her Steve Trevor, remembering the life they shared before her universe was erased. "When the multiverse collapsed, I was granted entry into Mount Olympus with my husband. We were spared, the same way Superman and Lois Lane were. Spared for this very moment."

She turned to her counterpart as she continued, the craft ascending higher and higher. "When my Earth returned, my husband used the last of his strength to bring me here to you. But since I left Mount Olympus, the gods' blessings are fading and soon I'll no longer exist. There isn't much time for me or you. Superman needs your help."

Diana glanced out of the invisible plane, seeing that they had now exited into space. She remembered how Kal, Bruce, and the others had turned away from her after murdering Max Lord. She had done the only thing she could do to save her friend from his own inner demons, to save him from a waking nightmare of his wife's death. Instead, he now looked at her with condemnation and shame.

"Superman doesn't want any help from me." She admitted to the Earth-2 Wonder Woman. "In his eyes, and the eyes of the world, I'm nothing short of a killer."

"I didn't SAY want, I said NEED."

"I already know why you're here. You're here to replace me now that I failed my mission."

"Your mission is OVER, Diana." The Earth-2 Diana stressed to her counterpart. "The gods are gone, the Amazons are gone, and your mother is gone. Instead of dwelling on it, accept it and move on."

"…What do I do?"

"You can start by trying NOT to be so perfect. You have been a princess, a goddess, an ambassador, and a warrior. The one thing you HAVEN'T been for a very long time… is human. Despite all of the flaws within humanity, there is just as much strength. Remind them of that… and remind HIM of that."

Diana Prince paused as she looked at her younger counterpart from Earth-1, seeing that the former Amazon was beginning to finally understand. In many ways, they weren't so different from one another. Both of them had come to a crossroads in their lives as Wonder Woman, making difficult choices. Her choice led to her marriage to Steven Trevor and a daughter now lost to the vestiges of time. This Diana had, instead, chosen to measure against now-impossible standards defined by others. It was those same standards that almost crippled her as a heroine.

She had seen the growth of her younger namesake over the years, knowing just how important her self-definition was to her. She had also seen the threads of friendship weave tightly between her and the Superman of Earth-1, before now seeming to be unbreakable. For a time, the two heroes came to depend on one another, forging a bond going beyond the boundaries of friendship and even beyond romance. It was a bond that the Man of Steel needed to remember if any of them were going to survive this madness.

"He STILL needs your friendship, Diana, especially now." The older Wonder Woman told her counterpart, seeing the light of recognition coming across her face. "Just remember that everyone makes mistakes... even Superman."

The Earth-1 Diana suddenly found herself outside of the invisible plane, watching as it vanished with the Earth-2 Wonder Woman. She allowed herself a small smile as she muttered a silent word of thanks, even if her older doppelganger wouldn't hear it. She then turned to the sound of crashing and pounding below, seeing that many of the buildings were crumbling. Her resolve refreshed, Wonder Woman flew downward to the chaos below, hoping that she was in time to help a friend.

* * *

"I won't let you hurt anyone else!" Kal-L, the Superman of Earth-2, shouted at his younger namesake as his fists collided over and over. His grief overwhelmed his senses, his rage at failing the woman he loved consuming him. Gone in an instant, because of the other Superman and his peers.

Clark could only block the hammering blows when he could as he countered with a few of his own, hoping that somehow his Earth-2 namesake would listen to reason. Still, a small part of him couldn't blame the older Man of Steel. If his own Lois died after so much effort to save her life, he would probably act in the same manner. Nevertheless, she was back on his Earth with everyone else waiting for him. He couldn't waste any more time fighting like this.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Clark said, knocking his older counterpart back into some buildings. "The city is empty! We're the only ones here!" He the found himself thrown down, tackled by the Earth-2 Superman. This debate was getting nowhere and he was running out of time.

"Because of you!" Kal-L retorted, his voice carrying the tone of rage and bitterness as he continued to throw punch after punch on the younger Superman. "This is all your fault!" He suddenly found himself in the familiar golden grip of a magic lasso, it's bonds unbreakable even to him. It was Wonder Woman's weapon of choice.

"Stop!" Clark heard Diana say as he began to stand. What was she, of all people, doing here?

"Get this off me." Kal-L told her, a dangerous tone in his authoritative voice. Another one came, bring the same disease that the other Superman brought. The same corruption. When will it end?

"I want us to talk... and I want the truth." Diana explained as she continued to grip her lasso. "Why are you fighting Superman like this?"

"I don't need your magic lasso to tell the TRUTH, Wonder Woman. It's what people from MY Earth do." He forced the lasso off, having been immune to it's magic for years, and glared at his younger counterpart. "The truth is that YOUR Justice League lobotomizes it's enemies. YOUR Batman built a satellite spawning an army of killing machines. YOUR Wonder Woman MURDERED Maxwell Lord. And YOU, Superman, could've stopped this before it even started. You SHOULD have!"

"You keep mentioning that all of this is my fault." Clark told his older counterpart. "How? What have I done?"

"You should have led your peers to a better tomorrow. Instead when the universe needed it's finest heroes, they REFUSED to stand together. Your world could've been a perfect world and you wasted it! All of it, the darkness and insanity, started the day you DIED at the hands of Doomsday! That's the reason I had to come here, why MY Lois died!"

"You're saying that all of this was to bring back YOUR so-called perfect Earth?" Diana said incredulously.

"If you're right, then this Earth isn't perfect either." Clark added. "A perfect Earth doesn't need a Superman, or anyone else like him."

Kal-L stopped as he reflected on the younger Superman's words, sounding like a promise he made many years ago. He wanted once to make his Earth into one where he wouldn't be needed anymore, where he and Lois could retire in peace. Everything fell apart when his Earth was wiped out years earlier in a wave of antimatter. It was beginning to make sense. This wasn't his Earth... because he was still needed.

Clark and Diana followed the older Superman as he leaped forward, landing to where the body of his Lois Lane was still laying. He had lost so much, only to be the survivor of yet another dead world again. She was his only reason to keep going, his only reason to live... and now she was gone.

"A perfect world doesn't need a Superman..." he muttered as he held her still form close, ignoring his younger mirror-image and Diana behind him. Clark could only stand silently as he thought about his Lois, waiting for him back on his Earth. Everything they had shared until now was summarized with this scene, a reflection of their feelings for each other over the years. Yet as he silently watched his counterpart, something told him to truly think about... why.

"He's right, you know." Clark found himself admitting as a steady realization came over him, Diana turning to her friend and one-time ally. "Somehow, this... insanity is my fault. If I'd been a better leader, I... I wouldn't have to question every single decision I make. I wouldn't have to hold back so much when it counts." He turned to Diana, seeing a questioning look in her eyes. "I wouldn't have turned my back on the people I call my friends."

Diana was silent as she listened to her former friend admit his failing. Why was he saying this now? Was he actually believing his counterpart's scathing words?

"When you killed Max Lord, it was like I was looking at someone I barely even knew. I... tried to come to terms with what's happened, with what all of us became since then and it's the same conclusion. You killed to save me, Diana, and... and I condemned you instead of helping you through this." His powerful blue eyes looked helpless now, as if regret had dwelled there instead of disappointment. "I'm sorry, Diana. I'm sorry for all of this."

"Kal, I'm... I'm also sorry." Diana finally replied, finding her voice now a familiar gentleness rather than the cold Amazon tone she harbored for several days. "I guess we all turned our back on each other lately. I only did what I could to save you and stop Lord, that's all." She was interrupted as they heard the agonizing yell of the Superman of Earth-2, seeing him surrounded by a beam of light. He was being split into other Supermen before their eyes, each of them familiar yet foreign as they faded like ghosts.

Clark flew over to catch his counterpart as he fell to his knees, the unknown light having drained him of his energy as it vanished. The older Superman looked at both of them, understanding in his eyes now instead of the insanity of grief.

"I've... I've made a mistake in judging you." Kal-L told his younger namesake as he began to stand. "I accused you of starting this, of creating the anarchy that was on your world. I was wrong."

"All of us have made mistakes before." Diana explained to him. "What we do is learn from them and grow, become better people for them." She then glanced upward to the sky, now seeing it filled with alternate Earths. "What do we do now?"

"We have to get to your Earth fast." Earth-2 Superman said. "The multiple Earths are being brought back but they're unstable. If they collide, they'll destroy each other."

"Let's go, then." Clark said. As the three superheros started to leave the ruins of the Metropolis of a bygone era, Diana looked to her left to see a young man standing next to her. He was faint, almost like a ghost, but very familiar. He wore a uniform that invoked some of Clark's as well as her own, his blue eyes pleading... something to her. He mouthed something as he vanished, his words inaudible.

"Something wrong, Diana?" she heard Clark ask her, his hand extended to her to join him and the Superman of Earth-1. She shook her head, smiling for the first time in many months as she took her friend's hand.

"No, Kal." Wonder Woman replied as she floated upward to meet them. "Everything fine." They flew onward, their destinies tied to a single Earth's survival. The future was not written in stone or blood, but it would be a better tomorrow. Somehow.

Not The End...


	2. Part 2

Part 2: A Vita parumpar Vita… (A Life for a Life…)

Conner Kent, known to the world as Superboy, clenched his fists as he and former Titans leader Nightwing looked towards the imposing tower ahead of them. Built amidst the ruins of the Fortress of Solitude, Superman's home-away-from-home, the golden structure was surrounded by hundreds of OMAC machines created by the satellite "Brother Eye". It towered above the two teenage heroes, seeming to beckon an ancient purpose now corrupted by another's conviction.

He turned to Nightwing, seeing the stoic determination behind his mask. Richard Grayson was the total opposite of Batman at times, trying to identify with the colleagues he aided instead of harboring mistrust. During his career as the first Robin as well as now, he wanted to divorce himself from the legacy of the Dark Knight, become his own man on his own failures and successes. Standing here now, a glint of his mentor's training shined through. It was an irony Richard never wanted to understand but now accepted.

"Well this is it." The former leader of the Titans said to Connor. "It's us against hundreds of them, not to mention we have to find a way of freeing our comrades trapped in that tower."

"I know." added the Boy of Steel. "We're screwed if we fail here."

"You guys need a hand?" The two looked upward to see the current Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandmark, descending towards them. As she landed in the soft snow, Connor looked at her with concern. Lately, she had been having problems with her powers flickering on and off like a light bulb about to give out. He couldn't risk her losing them altogether if things went bad. He couldn't risk losing her, not after everything that has happened.

"Cassie, you shouldn't be here." Connor told her. "It's too dangerous What if..."

"I'll be fine." Cassie told her teammate and boyfriend, assurance in her eyes. " Besides, right now I'm guessing you need all the help you can, right?"

"All we can get." Richard interrupted, turning their attention to the tower ahead. "All right, Titans, let's move!" With that, the three superheroes prepared to storm the tower, all of them with the ominous feel that death was much closer than before.

--------

Alexander Luthor clenched his fist in frustration as he poured over the data from another alternate Earth, his search growing desperate with each passing moment. He had built this tower, this symbol of the past, to accomplish what some would say is impossible. Yet a voice constantly taunted him in the back of his mind, guiding his hands as he manipulated events to its fullest peak.

You have accomplished little, Alexander Luthor.+ the voice told him as he sought out another Earth to manipulate. +Again, you fail in your efforts to locate the perfect Earth.+

"Quiet!" Alexander rasped as he contemplated. "I WILL find it!" He clenched his fist, letting his antimatter power destroy an alternate Earth. The red-haired teenager once more peered into the gaping maw of the Anti-Monitor's corpse, scanning the heavens for more Earths he could recombine and alter into his vision. He HAD to succeed. Failure was unacceptable.

Below, Psycho Pirate moves closer to the golden tower as he watches the unconscious body of Power Girl. Once a small-time villain named Roger Hayden, the Medusa Mask he wore over his face gave him insight over the emotions of others. He fed on it as if it were sweet liquor; drowning himself in it and giving it back only for it to return. Power Girl, his only real archenemy, was merely his latest victim at first. That was before the mask fed him memories of their lives on Earth-2.

"Pretty Power Girl." Hayden cooed as he reached out, stroking her short blond hair as if she were a lover. "Pretty, pretty, Power Girl. Alexander promised me I would have you when we're done. When we're finished, I'll have to remind him of that."

"Hey jerk!" The gold-masked madman suddenly found himself falling to the ground as Superboy punched him away from the unconscious Power Girl. "She's WAY out of your league!"

"OMACs, prevent the intruders from reaching the Tower." Alexander ordered, his eyes remaining on the antimatter clouds inside the Anti-Monitor's corpse. "They must not be allowed to free the power sources."

SUBJECTS: NIGHTWING/WONDER GIRL/SUPERBOY, ALIAS RICHARD GRAYSON/CASSANDRA SANDMARK/CONNOR KENT TARGETED. The OMACs droned as they started to surround the trio of heroes. PREPARING FOR IMMEDIATE TERMINATION.

"Don't let them surround you!" Richard warned as he dodged weapons fire from several of the nanomachine-powered OMACs. "Just get to the tower and shut it down!"

"It's no good!" Cassie said, using her lasso to throw some of the killing machines into each other and away from the golden construct. "Every time I get near this thing, these creeps get in my way!"

"Not a problem!" Connor shouted as he slammed his way through a large group, his eyes blazing with the energy of his seldom-used heat vision. "I've got you covered!" He punched his way through the machines, smiling when he noticed that his girlfriend and the former Titans leader were making some headway. The tide was definitely starting to turn.

Above them, Alexander used more of his anti-matter energy powers on the Anti-Monitor's corpse, seeing that his next target was his own home, Earth-3. He had been born there to Lex Luthor, an inspirational hero much like Superman was on Earth-1 and Earth-2. A cosmic irony, or even bad comedy to some. He suddenly clutched his head in pain, his rapidly-frustrated mind straining from the process.

Time is short, Alexander.+ The strange voice echoed inside of his head. +You are going to fail with more delays.+

"SILENCE!" Alexander shouted out loud, his sanity already questionable from splitting the Earths once more. "I merely need more time." He then looked back into the gaping maw, a dark smile on his face as he contemplated his next move as if he were playing a game of chess with himself.

"Earth-3, MY homeworld, could be an unexpected possibility after all." He then reached into the swirling mass of anti-matter, reaching toward it and its planetary neighbor. "Perhaps Superman was also correct about Earth-2. It could add something pure to the mix."

--------

(Earth-2)

"I've gone over every inch of the sky with my telescopic vision" Superman-1 said as he flew with Wonder Woman and his Earth-2 counterpart. "I still can't find it up there" Suddenly, the three heroes stopped in mid-air as they saw a golden hand reach out of the clouds, as if to engulf it.

"Great Hera..." Diana muttered, the phrase more of a passing reflex rather than anything else. "What is that?"

"It's Alex." Kal-L told them both. "He wants to use Earth-2 to replace the others. If we don't act fast, your Earth will be erased forever." The three heroes suddenly screamed in pain as they felt their minds and bodies begin to rip apart, overwritten and copied into something else, someONE else.

--------

"The universe, no, the MULTIVERSE said that Supermen and Luthors are destined to be at odds with each other." Alexander spat as he forced himself to stay focused, sweat pouring down his brow. "Maybe the multiverse is wrong. I'll merge them, copy and fuse them into a new single being."

Yes, Alexander.+ the voice soothed in the back of his mind, slowly growing in prominence over his own thoughts. +Merge them, combine them.+

"It will work, for the sake of reality." he rasped, feeling the Earths resisting somewhat as he pushed the twin worlds together. Suddenly, he recoiled in pain as he snatched his hands away, screaming more in anger rather than pain as he watched the two Earths separate once more. One of his fingers was burned away, the wound cauterized and singed with ash.

--------

(Earth-2)

"What... what just happened?" Diana said as Superman-1 helped her to her feet, her eyes still on the sky as it continued to fill with duplicate Earths. Moments earlier, she felt as if something was invading her every being, overlaying her own memories with someone else's, foreign yet somehow strangely familiar.

"Alex nearly fused this Earth with a different one." Kal-L explained, his fists flexing in frustration. "He almost succeeded but something or someone stopped him in time. For now, we're out of his reach."

"I think I spotted our Earth now." Clark told them as he pointed upward to one of the duplicate planets. "It has to be that one."

"What makes you say that, Kal...Clark?" Diana said, correcting herself as she addressed her friend by his first name for the first time in months. "What do you see?"

Clark's eyes focused intensely on the Earth belonging to him and Wonder Woman with his telescopic vision, seeing the giant tower surrounded with OMACs where his Fortress of Solitude once stood. Nightwing, Wonder Girl, and Superboy were fighting for their lives against the killing machines and they were rapidly losing the ground they gained earlier.

"Right now, Superboy and Wonder Girl are with Nightwing trying to stop whatever has been going on." Clark explained as the trio took to the skies once more. "If we don't get there soon, everything we ALL care about is going to be destroyed." With that, they again sped towards Earth-1, hoping to reach it in time to save their young successors' lives.

--------

Alexander clutched his injured hand, more in anger rather than frustration, as he watched the twin Earths separate once more. His head once again pounded with the alien voice, telling him... commanding him to...

"Was this your fault, Superman?" the red-haired teenager rasped. "No matter. I'll simply locate Earth-2 and drag it back to my Petri dish. Then your longevity, like your usefulness, will finally come to an end."

"Didn't anyone ever tell you about talking to yourself?" Alexander was suddenly drop-kicked away from the Anti-Monitor's corpse by Nightwing, sending him crashing to the icy ground below.

"Nightwing, the Dick Grayson of Earth-1." Alexander mused. As he started to stand, he was then blown away several feet from the Tower by an assault of heat vision. Flying toward him with nearly all of his victims was a very angry Power Girl, her eyes hot with red energy.

"ALEX!!!" Kara shouted. "You have a LOT to answer for!"

Above Cassie and Connor both worked rapidly to free the rest of the victims, doing as much damage to the gold construct as possible along the way while avoiding the OMACs.

"Do you think we should free Black Adam also?" Cassie asked, swinging an OMAC into several others with her lasso.

"Are you kidding?" Connor replied, ripping out circuits and conduit feeds as he brought his fists down onto the golden monolith. "Hell yeah!"

Below, Alexander was grabbed by Power Girl, slamming him into a nearby wall. The buxom blonde had to keep herself from pounding on the young Luthor until he bled to death, her infamous temper reaching a boiling point. He had used her Superman and herself, played on her sympathies instead of saving the life of a woman who was nearly a mother to her. He had to pay.

"Where's my cousin, you son of a bitch?" Kara demanded as she faced him down, her fists clenching a handful of his costume as she lifted him off the ground. "Where's Lois?"

"There's no longer needed alive, Kara." Alexander told her, his voice a cold monotone as he prepared a blast of antimatter. "Right now, neither are any of you." He blasted her in the face, forcing the Earth-2 equal to Supergirl to drop him to the ground. Nearby, the Psycho Pirate watched the spectacle, hoping that Alexander didn't forget his promise to him in all of the ensuing madness.

"Don't hurt her, Alex." Hayden called over the blasts of metahuman energy around him. "You still have to keep your word."

"Psycho-Pirate." The masked villain looked up to see Black Adam, one of Captain Marvel's rivals and predecessors originally from Earth-S. The cold look on his face was enough to even make Hayden squirm on fear.

"You're afraid, Black Adam!" Hayden cried in desperation as he tried to get away from the former champion of Shazam. "You're afrai-" His rant was cut short as he was incinerated on the spot, a stray blast of energy destroying the villain before Black Adam could act.

"Hmm." Black Adam mused as he set foot on the ground near the smoldering body of Roger Hayden. "No more silly faces."

"Did... did you do that, Adam?" Kara asked as she came over with The Ray, one of the surviving Freedom Fighters once led by Uncle Sam.

"No, but I commend who did." Adam told her sternly. Suddenly the entire group was thrown to the side as if caught in a sonic boom. The voice coming from it as it sped past them sent chills down even Power Girl's spine, for it was all-too familiar.

"Hello, Kara."

Meanwhile, Nightwing and Superboy stood on top of the Tower as Wonder Girl joined them, seeing more and more of the alternate Earths filling the skies as they helplessly watched.

"I've gone over the equipment but there's no way to shut this thing down." Richard told the two young heroes. "More and more Earths are coming and I don't know if we can stop it."

"Then let's tear this thing apart." Cassie added. Suddenly, Connor felt a familiar chill run straight through him, a feeling he had felt before in Smallville. His eyes widened as he realized what caused it.

"Guys, look down there." Connor told them. "He's back. Superboy-Prime's back."

--------

Once he was simply a young boy named Clark Kent, an irony since the name also belonged to a popular comic book superhero named Superman. On Earth-Prime, where he was from, there were no such things as superheroes or villains. They were just pieces of pop culture made by different companies for science fiction or just plain fun. Clark never lived it down, however, since he was teased to no end by his peers over his name. One evening in 1986, he decided to live up to his name and made a Superboy costume for himself, going to a costume party with his best friend and girlfriend, Laurie. Suddenly, as the skies turned red, he found that he could do everything Superman could. But he never got the chance to save his world, as Earth-Prime was erased in waves of anti-matter.

Now, twenty years later, this boy named Superboy-Prime was the total opposite.

"I thought you were supposed to be one of the tough ones." Clark-Prime said in a smug voice as he flew in front of Black Adam, the sunlight glistening on his newly-constructed armor. "You don't look so tough."

"Child or no child, you die today!" Black Adam declared as he began hitting the one-time Boy of Steel. He heard that magic was one of Superman's vulnerabilities. Perhaps the same was true for his younger namesake.

"The magic! It hurts!" Clark-Prime cried out as he was hit over and over. "It hurts!" He then gripped Adam's fist, surprising the former champion of Shazam as he smiled darkly.

"What?"

"Actually... it tickles." He then back-handed Black Adam away like a rag doll, watching him scream as he suddenly disappeared.

--------

(Earth-S)

"Wait a second, Mary." Freddy Freeman, otherwise known as Captain Marvel Jr., said as he grasped the hand of Mary Marvel. In a blink of light, Black Adam found himself slammed into the ground below, anger and confusion written on his face.

"Where... where am I?" Adam asked as he lifted himself up, seeing the two sidekicks of his rival looking at him.

"We were going to ask you the same question." Mary told him.

--------

"Where did he go?" Clark-Prime asked as he went toward Alexander Luthor, seeing him shake his head as if to clear it.

"To Earth-S, Superboy, since he was too far away from the Tower to remain here." Alexander theorized.

"Then why can't I go home, too? Why can't I go back to Earth-Prime, Alex?"

"Somehow, your frequencies much have changed to match this Earth rather than your own. Perhaps something changed you here at your very core, Superboy."

"They made me do it!" Clark-Prime defended. "I didn't want to but... but..."

Alexander looked the Boy of Steel over, seeing that something else had altered as well. The armor he was wearing was an eerie reminder of the Anti-Monitor's own life-support system.

The armor, Alexander.+ the voice told him in the back of his mind. +The armor was only part of it. We'll need it, don't forget that.+

"...Where did the Flashes take you?" Alexander finally asked, slowly beginning to give in to the voice inside his mind. He was tired of fighting it, especially since it seemed to be guiding to the right direction.

"They kept me inside the Speed Force for years, forcing me under red sunlight so I was too weak to escape. But I got out using this armor, designed after the Anti-Monitor's harness to collect and feed me yellow solar energy. It was weird, almost like someone told me how to do it. But it doesn't matter, since I always find a way out."

"They're trying to destroy the Tower before my search for the perfect Earth is finished." Alexander told him. Clark-Prime turned the red-haired teenager around to face him, a desperate gleam in the young doppelganger of Superman's eyes.

"You're search is over, because you're going to forget about your little lab experiment of mixing and matching and use MY Earth instead. I'd do whatever it took to get home again."

"Hmm... perhaps." Alexander contemplated. Suddenly, Clark-Prime found himself ripped away by the green arms of J'Onn J'Onnz, also known as the Martian Manhunter.

"I do not know you but I am called the Martian Manhunter." J'Onn told the younger version of his fellow Justice League member. "I am the sole survivor of Mars for a reason." He them decked Clark-Prime in the jaw, phasing just in time to avoid the boy's heat vision.

--------

In space, Batman walked the halls of the satellite called Brother Eye, his mind set on correcting his mistake. The space construct was built out of his paranoia, his mistrust of the metahumans he fought beside and even called friends. The protocols he kept in the computers of the Bat-Cave gave the killer satellite invaluable information about the superhero and supervillain populace, information now being used in the creation of more OMAC soldiers.

YOUR FRIENDS WILL FAIL YOU, CREATOR. The monotone voice of Brother Eye told him, almost taunting the Dark Knight. Bruce remained as stoic as possible, his focus on shutting down a machine gone mad.

"My friends can handle themselves." Bruce replied.

NOT THE ONES PRESENT HERE. THE OTHERS STILL ON EARTH-1 CURRENTLY, INCLUDING YOUR FAVORITE.

Bruce stepped into the main control center of Brother Eye, the core fluxing with power as it seemed to contemplate the presence of its former master. He wasn't going to let this machine win.

SUBJECT BETA: RICHARD GRAYSON ALIAS NIGHTWING. Brother Eye continued as Bruce opened a control panel, taking out an instrument from his utility belt. HE IS MERELY MORTAL AGAINST A BOY POSSESSING SKILL BEYOND THOSE OF MORTALS. EYE WONDER... IF YOU WILL BLAME YOURSELF FOR WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?

Bruce ignored the droning, silently hoping in the back of his mind that his former partner will survive. He had lost two different Robins because of a mistake on his part. He wasn't going to lose the closest thing he had to a son.

EVEN AS YOU WORK ON DESTROYING MY "MIND", I AM PARALLEL DOWNLOADING HUNDREDS OF GIGABYTES OF MY CORE MEMORY INTO MOLLIONS OF COMPUTERS ON THE WORLD. YOU CANNOT WIN, CREATOR.

"Wrong, Brother Eye." Bruce told the machine as he removed another connection. "I'm not even trying to erase your memory. I'm distracting you." He closed the panel as he stood before the core of the satellite. "I built you with a limited propulsion system designed to compensate for orbital corrections. Right now, one of my friends just activated it. You've been thrown out of orbit."

NO. The computer known as Brother Eye cried as dozens of wires and maintenance feeds wrapped around Batman, dragging him toward the pulsating core. Bruce glanced over his shoulder, seeing almost what could have been a hallucination or a transparent hologram. It was a young man in a sleeker version of his costume, his face covered as he stared at him under the cowl. The figure nodded once before it faded, sending a feeling of security and confidence inside Bruce's mind.

"It's over, Brother Eye." Bruce told the machine.

NEGATIVE. IF EYE FALL, SUBJECT ALPHA: BRUCE WAYNE ALIAS BATMAN SHALL FALL AS WELL.

"No deal." Bruce took out a Bat-A-Rang from his belt, cutting some of the cables wrapped around him only to have more replacing them.

WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO TRUST THEM, CREATOR? THEY HAVE COMMITTED MUCH AGAINST THEMSELVES AND THE PLANET. THIS MISSION IS LOGICAL, SINCE TRUSTING THEM TO DO WHAT IS NECESSARY IS ILLOGICAL.

"I'll take my chances." Suddenly, the room shook as the outer wall exploded, revealed the face of the restored Green Lantern Hal Jordan.

"Need a lift?" Hal asked as he grabbed Batman's hand, tearing the Dark Knight away from the cables surrounding him. Both of them were surrounded by a green aura as they moved into the vacuum of space, watching as the satellite met its fiery demise in Earth-1's orbit.

"I take it the diplomatic approach didn't work?" Hal joked half-heartily as he and Batman joined the others who had come with them to stop Brother Eye, many of them using their powers to save the people powering the OMAC machines.

"Save it, Jordan." Bruce told him. "Do you know where Superman's Fortress used to be?"

"Sure. Why?"

"Get us there, Jordan. Now." With that, the unlikely duo sped towards Earth-1, Hal failing to notice the faint figure beside them in a modified Green Lantern costume. His face smiled with a look of satisfaction before he faded into the sunlight.

--------

"Focus, Connor" Richard told the current Boy of Steel as he watched him use his tactile telekinesis on the Tower. "You can do it. Concentrate."

"I know that." Connor replied, his mind focusing on disassembling the massive construct. He had done it before on smaller objects over the years but nothing this massive. Suddenly, he heard the familiar scream of Cassie as she was assaulted by the OMACs, one of them succeeding in stabbing her.

"CASSIE!!!" Connor shouted, forgetting about the Tower for the moment. The woman he loved was about to be killed, something he didn't want to go through again since the death of his ex-girlfriend Tana Moon some years before. He and Richard both found themselves punched out of the way by the speeding figure of Superboy-Prime.

"Mind if I join your little team-up?" Clark-Prime laughed insanely as he flew past them, eventually stopping over the figure of Nightwing, ready to fight even if it was a losing battle.

"Are you serious, Nightwing? You really think you can face me down?" Clark-Prime's eyes glowed as he prepared to end the life of the former Titan leader, something inside screaming for him to stop before it was too late. "All the Titans thought they could too, stupid Titans. Heck, I wasn't even trying before."

Connor clenched his fists tightly, his anger growing even more at the kid who stole his name and his mentor's face. Richard, Cassie, and countless others were suffering because of him. He understood now why he alone had to stop him. This monster was his OWN personal Doomsday.

"I wasn't trying, either!" Connor shouted as he slammed himself into Superboy-Prime, saving Nightwing from the assault of heat vision. "Round Two, punk!"

"Why are you even bothering?" Clark-Prime said, grabbing Cassie's lasso as she tried to tie him up and flinging her into the walls. "You wasted your chance to make your world a better place."

-That's not true.- a voice told him in the back of his mind. -They just needed more time.-

"Heroes are supposed to be good, not whiny little crybabies!" Clark-Prime shouted as he grabbed Connor's foot and slammed him into his girlfriend.

--------

"Earth-Prime..." Alexander mused quietly as he once more gazed into the maw of anti-matter. "Where are you?" He stopped as he suddenly looked over towards...

(The author stops writing as a feeling of horrible dread washes him over. He steps away from the computer and looks outside of his window, seeing the sky turn red as a pair of gold hands reach down from the sky.

"Oh crap..." he says, also seeing the eyes of Alexander Luthor look at him. He rushes to his computer to finish the story before it is too late, knowing that the world where this very story is being written and read online IS Earth-Prime!)

--------

"We'll have heroes who're polite and honest, heroes that stop the bad guys instead of being just like them!" Clark-Prime shouted as he slammed his fists into Wonder Girl, back-handing her away from the Tower.

"NO!" Connor barreled into Superboy-Prime, wrapping him in a half-nelson as he brought them both to the ground. "I let you judge me, look down at me like I was some kind of mistake. But going after my girlfriend, my family, my planet? No way. NO GODDAMN WAY!!!"

"You are a mistake!" Clark-Prime retorted as he blasted his counterpart with heat vision. "You had a chance to make things okay, to live out the life I should've had but you wasted it!"

"You fuckin' hypocrite!" Connor punched the armor over and over, feeling his fists start to crack open and bleed. This maniac had to be stopped, no matter what happened to him.

"I'll be the only Superboy again! M-M-ME!!!" Both teens fought tooth-and-nail against each other, determined to come out on top and unaware that they were about to slam directly into the Anti-Monitor Tower.

"NO!" Alexander cried out as they came slamming in. "NO!!!"

Yes...+ the voice also cried out in his head. +Yes! At long last...+

The Tower shudders as it begins to implode, sending shockwaves across both Earth-1 and the surrounding space as the multiple Earths began to vanish.

--------

Superman-1 gripped his head as his memories were rewritten...

(My name is Clark Kent, a reporter for the Daily Planet newspaper in Metropolis. I was sent by my birthparents, Jor-El and La-Ra, to Earth to evade Krypton's destruction. I was raised by Martha and Jonathan Kent as their son in the small town of Smallville, using my growing powers to do small deeds around my hometown. The news said that there was a "super-boy" flying around doing things to help people but only my family and my best friends, Lana Lang and Pete Ross, ever knew about me. I stayed in Cleveland during my college years and worked at the Daily Star newspaper under George Taylor before coming to Metropolis in 1985, where I met my future wife Lois Lane. I was inspired by the exploits of a similar but fictional hero from the 1930s called "The Champion" and began my career as Superman in a similar costume to his. But then...)

--------

Wonder Woman gripped her head as her memories were overwritten...

(My name is Diana Prince, but I am actually Princess Diana of the island of Amazon warriors called Thesmyrica. My mother, Hyppolyta, had ventured into the modern world during the 1940s as the first to bear the title of Wonder Woman, assisting in the wars with several of her companions. When she returned, I competed in a contest to also leave the island after a military plane carrying Steve Trevor crashed there. I fought against several of my sisters, including both my adoptive sister Donna Troy, who was brought back to the island with my mother, and several others before I claimed the title. After returning Trevor to the United States, I remained to assist the superheroes with any crisis that might erupt and represent my people officially as their ambassador. I later became caretaker of the Greek wing for the Natural History Museum in Boston under the name of Diana Prince, eventually meeting several dear friends both ordinary and extraordinary. Two of them, Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, became the closest friends I could've hoped for. But then...)

--------

Batman gripped the side of his head as his memories became adjusted...

(My name is Bruce Wayne, but at night I patrol the streets of Gotham City as the Batman. My parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, were murdered by an unknown gunman when I was eight years old. Many years later, a small-time criminal named Joe Chill was arrested in connection fir it but was later proved innocent and released. Disgusted, I left Gotham when I turned eighteen, determined to train myself to hunt down the sinister, cowardly lot that preyed on victims like my parents. After studying a variety of martial arts in Japan and different skill in both Egypt and Europe, I returned to Gotham with my goals clear. Patterning a costume after that of one of my favorite cult heroes, the Grey Ghost, and that of the most fear element of the night, a bat, I became the urban legend known as the Batman. Over the years I gained many enemies as well as a few allies, some I would never admit I couldn't do without sometimes. But then...)

--------

(New Earth-1)

Richard Grayson opened his eyes, feeling like his head was hit with a sledgehammer or one of Solomon Grundy's fists. His entire body hurt horribly as he got off of the ground, looking around the wreckage that was once the Tower. His last memory was seeing Connor slam the other Superboy into it and then...

"CONNOR!!!" He heard Wonder Girl scream in horror as he tried to race towards the two Titans, a feeling of deep dread overcoming him. Connor was lying underneath the rubble, the unconscious body of Superboy-Prime next to him, Cassie desperately lifted most of the wreckage off the body of her teammate and lover, fearing the worst as soon as she saw him. He was badly beaten, blood covering his body from still unseen wounds.

"He said... that I wasn't the real Superboy..." Connor rasped weakly as Cassie gently lifted him, unaware of Nightwing's presence being joined by Wonder Woman, Superman-1, Superman-2, Batman, and Green Lantern. "He was... wrong... I just forgot for a little while. We can't... do that. cough We can't keep forgetting anymore..."

"Just hang in there, okay?" Cassie told him gently, praying to whatever gods might still be around that the boy she had loved for so long would survive. "You saved the Earth, Connor. You save everyone."

"I know..." Connor whispered, his eyes slowly closing as his vision began to fade, a feeling of great warmth rising over him. "Isn't it... cool?"

Cassie shook with grief as she leaned down, kissing the boy she loved and fought with so bravely for one last time. She then screamed in anguish, sobbing as she held him close to her, letting the entire planet know that today was the day... that a Superboy died.

End Part 2


	3. Part 3

Part 3

Clark Kent bowed his head in silent regret as he stood with his peers, watching as Cassie continued to sob over the body of his young successor. It was so familiar, for a reason other than a grim reminder of his own death at the hands of Doomsday years ago.

"Kara..." Clark muttered under his breath, suddenly remembering his own cousin's violent death years before at the hands of the being called the Anti-Monitor. She had saved countless millions, the same way Connor had now done, and had likewise paid the ultimate price. It did and did NOT happen, which was confusing enough since Supergirl was still alive somewhere in space.

"This should've been us." Clark told his peers. "We let this happen by abandoning the world when it needed us. We wasted so much time squabbling among ourselves it left only our successors to pick up the pieces. I... I wasn't here for him like I was for Kara before..." He knelt onto the ground beside Connor's body, Wonder Woman placing her arms around him in comfort. For the first time since Lois was nearly killed months earlier, he allowed himself to cry.

"I'm sorry, Clark." Diana told him softly as she held him. "I'm so sorry."

"Sorry isn't going to help Superboy." Clark replied. "He died because we weren't here."

"Then we learn from it." Bruce said to his friend, mentally taking back some of the bitter things he felt towards him before. "We never let this happen again."

Kal-L stood quietly away from the group as Power Girl flew towards him, her face falling when she noticed that Lois wasn't with them. He couldn't face her knowing he had let down the love of his life, knowing that he was partly responsible for her death on Earth-2. For the first time in his long life, the Superman of Earth-2 felt like a failure.

"Where's Lois, Kal?" Kara Zor-L asked her older cousin. "Where IS she?" Her reply was an solemn embrace from the one-time inspiration, conveying what words alone could not.

"I'm sorry, Kara..." Kal-L told her. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

"Why... why do we keep surviving when the ones we love keep dying?" Kara whispered as tears began to fall.

"I just got word from J'Onn." Hal Jordan addressed the small group. "According to him, the Secret Society broke open every single metahuman prison on the planet. They've declared full-scale war on us and are converging in Metropolis. They say if Superman's city fall, the rest will come."

"We can't let them take Metropolis." Batman noted as he turned to his grieving friends. "We have to move out now."

"He's right, Clark." Diana said, wishing that she could do more to ease her friend's heart. "We've got to go."

"...I... I know." Clark finally stood, knowing that both Diana and Bruce were right. After everything that's happened, he could bear to lose his city as well as his Lois also. It was time for action. "Everyone who's able to fly, take those who can't and follow me." The current Man of Steel took to the skies with the small group following close behind him. Meanwhile, a small spark of energy arched from Superboy-Prime to Connor's body. Again and again, each time growing more intense until both boys were surrounded by a gold light...

--------

(Elsewhere, Elsewhen...)

"...Where... Where am I?" Connor asked himself as he looked around. He was floating in an empty space, his clothes still ruined from the battle earlier but his injuries gone. "What's..."

"My fault..." he heard someone whisper from somewhere nearby. "It was all my fault. He used me..." As Connor got closer to the source of the voice, he tightened his fists in anger. Standing there in front of him now was the boy called Superboy-Prime, now without his armor.

"YOU!" Connor whipped the boy around, about to pound his fist into him in anger from the earlier fight. "What are you doing here?"

"Wait!" Clark-Prime told him as he was punched in the jaw, Connor launching himself at the boy with the face of his mentor. "Listen to me! I'm not Superboy Prime!"

"Whatever, you lunatic!" Connor spat as he punched the boy again. " I don't know how you brought me here but send me back. NOW!"

"I can't!" the boy called Superboy Prime told him as he dodged another punch. "Look, throwing a lot of punches around isn't going to help us. We've got to stop him before it's too late."

"Stop who?" Connor asked, cautiously keeping his fists up.

"Alexander Luthor." Clark-Prime explained. "You don't understand yet so let me explain. About twenty years ago, there was a battle between all the superheroes and a monster called the Anti-Monitor. He wanted to collapse the universe in on itself and start over with himself as the core."

"I already know about that."

"Let me finish. I was there and even helped the Superman of Earth-2 destroy him. When it was over, Alex let us go into some kind of... some kind of paradise world. I didn't know that the Anti-Monitor would come back with us." Seeing that Connor was starting to listen, Clark-Prime continued. "Part of him survived, his intelligence inside of me and his... um... his memories inside of Alex. He used that world we were in to play on everyone's minds, making me mad because I was stuck there instead of home with my family. Whenever I hit the walls, things... changed here. I don't know how. But that's when Alex starting acting strange."

"What's this got to do with what you did out there?" Connor asked.

"Alex used me, me and Superman, to finish the Anti-Monitor's goal: collapse the multiverse and start over with him at the center. I... I just wanted so badly to go home and live my life. Now..."

"Look, I'm not going to sit here and forgive you if that's what you're looking for." Connor told the young boy. "But if you earned that symbol on your chest, you'd know what it stands for. If even Hal Jordan can prove himself a good guy again, so can you."

"It's too late. Alex was right when he said something changed inside me. But it's not too late for you. You can stop him and beat him, make things right one last time."

Connor thought it over, absorbing the information the boy gave him. As much as they had fought, deep down inside underneath the insanity was a young boy who never had a chance to prove himself. He was like that once, even though he would never admit it. If he were Clark, he would've considered giving his namesake a chance.

"Let's start over." Connor said, extending his hand to the youth. "My name's Connor. Connor Kent."

"My name's Clark." As the two shook hands, they were enveloped by a gold light as they both faded...

(My name is Connor Clarke Kent, but to the world I'm known as Superboy. I was born as the only son of Jerry and Naomi Kent in Vermont. I always admired Superman and, even though I grew up as a normal boy, I wanted to be a superhero like him someday. My classmates teased me a lot about the fact that I looked like Superman, even calling me Superboy. I hated that. On my sixteenth birthday, my parents and my girlfriend, Laurie, were killed in a car accident. I was knocked into a near-fatal coma and taken to a nearby hospital, where I was then transferred under the name John Doe to STAR Labs in Metropolis. I was made into a lab experiment by people working for Lex Luthor, wanting to create a perfect clone of Superman after he died in his battle with Doomsday. Combining his DNA with Lex Luthor's did something to me. I lost my memories when I escaped, forgetting about my old life. I had a new life after I met Superman and others like him. At first, I hated people calling me Superboy but now...)

------

The light grew until it exploded out from the wreckage, moving away from the remains of the ruined Tower towards Metropolis. The skies grew dark above the remains, heralding that this conflict was only going to get much worse.

------

"Ollie, look!" Roy Harper, the Outsider known as Arsenal, told his mentors as they saw what was coming they're way. Doomsday once again walked the grounds of Metropolis, slamming his way through every single metahuman present whether friend or foe.

"It's Doomsday, kid." Oliver Queen, the hero called Green Arrow, told his successor as he took out some arrow from his quiver. "The monster that killed Superman. Looks like the Secret Society just upped the ante while we were gone."

"What do we do?" Roy asked. Sudenly, they glaced upward to see a sight that brought them both relief.

"Just look up in the sky, kid." Ollie told him. "Look up in the sky."

Doomsday found itself thrown backward into a brick wall as it was punched by both Supermen of Earth-1 and Earth-2. The monster growled as it hit back, it's spiked fists knocking Clark to the ground.

"Not today, monster." Kal-L spoke as he blocked the monster's fists with his own, breaking the spikes like aluminum against a solid steel wall. Both he and Clark slammed their fists into Doomsday, finally knocking the grey beast to the ground as they were joined by the remaining superheroes present.

"They killed Superboy." Clark said as he took to the skies with his older counterpart. "Now they want to take the city. I'd say... like hell!" The group divided themselves as they all went after their respected foes:

Both Supermen pounded on Bizzaro No. 1, sending the misshappen clone to the ground below...

Batman teamed with Nightwing and Robin, fresh from helping the remaining Titans rescue Bludhaven, against Deathstroke, using their various instruments from their utility belts to subdue the professional assassin-for-hire...

Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart tag-teamed on Sinestro, firing their emerald rings' energies at the former intergalactic patrolman-turned-supervillain...

Martain Manhunter went with Black Canary and The Ray to help Doctor Light, Dr. Kimiko, subdue her more villainous namesake...

Both Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl went after the Cheetah, Cassie especially fighting with gusto against the familiar villain...

Meanwhile, Power Girl joined with her remaining teammates from the Justice Society against their respected foes. She was glad at least some of them made it, the fact that she was helped by the Superman of her own Earth adding to the fight.

"It feels good to fight with the Justice Society again." Kal-L remarked as he joined his old comrades' side, Power Girl smiling to him.

"Hey, I think I remember you." Wildcat said to the older Man of Steel.

"You should, Ted." Kara told her teammate. "He's our Superman, after all." Suddenly, she was blasted in the back by a bolt of anti-matter, Kal-L catching her as she collapsed onto the ground. Alexander Luthor was standing behind them, laughing maniacally in a strangely-familiar voice.

"Alex!" Kal-L growled before being knocked to the ground by another strand of anti-matter. He looked up and saw that Alexander was pulsating with anti-matter, his eyes hollow and empty as he seemed to glow darkly.

FOR YEARS I HAD WAITED IN THE ABYSS, HOPING THAT SOMEONE WOULD BE STUPID ENOUGH OR DESPERATE ENOUGHT TO COMPLETE MY FINAL DESIGN FOR THIS UNIVERSE.+ Alexander droned in a voice no longer belonging to him, his body slumping to the ground as a familiar shape surrounded by clouds of anti-matter rose off of him. +TWENTY YEARS AGO, I ALLOWED MYSELF TO BE DESTROYED, SOWING THE SEEDS FOR MY GREATEST REALITY TO BE UNLEASHED ONCE AGAIN.+

"It can't be..." Kal-L muttered to himself as his spirits sank, not noticing that he was joined by his fellow superheroes. "You're not... after all this time..."

"Who is that?" the voice of the younger Superman asked his counterpart. Suddenly, it hit Clark faster than a speeding bullet as memory after memory washed over him.

...a battle in space...

...Supergirl pleading for him to get to safety...

...her death at his hands...

"...I remember now." Clark spoke, his voice growing with rarely-seen anger as his fists closed tightly. "The Anti-Monitor!"

CORRECT, SUPERMAN OF EARTH-ONE.+ The clouds of anti-matter faded as the new figure stood before them. Clad in Superboy-Prime's solar-collecting armor was indeed the face of the Anti-Monitor, the very same being who almost destroyed the universe twenty years ago.

"What did you do to Alex, you monster?" Kal-L spat angrily at the being standing there.

AN ACCIDENT OF FATE, SUPERMAN OF EARTH-TWO. LUTHOR OF EARTH-THREE WAS MORE THAN WILLING TO BE THE PERFECT PAWN, ALLOWING ME TO MANIPULATE HIS JUDGEMENT AFTER BANISHING YOU ALL TO THE PARADISE YOU FLED TO. MY ESSENCE WAS TRAPPED WITHIN HIM, MY INTELLECT SPLIT BETWEEN HIM AND THE SUPERBOY OF EARTH-PRIME AFTER YOU DESTROYED WHAT REMAINED OF MY BODY. BIDING MY TIME, AND WITH YOU DISTRACTED BY LOIS LANE'S SICKNESS, I MANIPULATED THEM BOTH INTO GATHERING THE RAW MATERIALS TO RECONSTRUCT MY ULTIMATE GOALS.+ He rose off of the ground slightly, almost taunting those below as he stared with his cold, empty eyes. +THE MULTIVERSE IS GONE FOREVER, LEAVING ONLY THIS EARTH IN IT'S WAKE AND ALLOWING ME TO FINISH WHAT IT'S OWN HEROES BEGAN ONLY RECENTLY: RECASTING ALL OF CREATION INTO MY OWN IMAGE!+

"Wanna bet?"A red blur slammed into the Anti-Monitor's armor at hyperspeed, knocking him to the ground as it slowed down in front of the heroes. "I've been waiting a long time for some payback, you monster!"

"That voice..." Hal Jordan said as he flew closer to the ground, studying the newcomer wearing the Flash uniform before it hit him. "...Barry Allen? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Hal, it's me." The legendary Flash told his friend. "After Superboy-Prime escaped, only a few of us could still run. I was the only Flash that had enough of the Speed Force left inside to make the trip since Wally burned out and Bart... since he was killed trying to put him down."

"Bart was... Bart's gone?" Cassie said with disbelief, still coping with losing Conner in the earlier battle. Bart Allen was one of her closest friends. Losing him also was like being hit with a sledgehammer.

"I tried to get here to warn everybody but my speed maxed out in Tokyo and I passed out. I had no idea that this... thing would come back for Round Two."

SO, EVEN THE GREAT BARRY ALLEN HAS RETURNED IN MY WAKE.+ The Anti-Monitor mused as he lifted himself into the skies. +IT DOESN'T MATTER. I'LL DESTROY OA, CAUSING A NEW BIG BANG TO ENGULF ALL OF CREATION. ALL OF YOU WILL FADE INTO PROTOHISTORY, LEAVING ME AS THE ONLY MASTER OF THIS DOMAIN!+

"We're not going to let that happen!" Kal-L spoke as he stood, helping Kara to her feet also as he turned to the crowd of heroes gathered. "This is our last chance to stop the Anti-Monitor from collapsing reality. He can't reach Oa or it's the end of everything. All of you who are able to fly, follow me!" With that, the majority of the heroes present took off after the corrupted being, determined to save their reality from destruction.

------

"It's over, Deathstroke." Bruce told the villain as the Dark Knight held him down with his foot. Robin and Nightwing joined ther mentor's side, both tired but relieved to be alive. "Are you both all right?" he asked his surroggate sons.

"Could be a lot worse." Richard said. Suddenly, he was hit with a bolt of anti-matter, slamming into the ground with a sickening thud.

"NIGHTWING!!!" Bruce shouted, looking up to see Alexander Luthor glaring at them from his podium.

"You ruined everything!" Alexander growled. "Do you even realize what you've done? DO YOU?!?" He tried to send out another blast of anti-matter but it rapidly faded. "No! I need more power!"

Bruce looked over to Nightwing's prone form, seeing Robin hovering over it in a desperate attempt to save the closest thing he had ever known to a brother. When he looked at his partner, hot tears beginning to stream down his face, Iit was almost deja vu to the Dark Knight.

His family was murdered, former Robin Jason Todd seemingly died, and former Batgirl Barbara Gordon was forever crippled because of Bruce's reluectance to do what needed to be done. Now Richard Grayson, the first Robin, was apparently about to pay the same horrible price. It couldn't happen again.

"We're not too dissimilar, Batman." Alexander told the crimefighter. "Think about it. Your family was destroyed so you want to make the streets of Gotham a better place. My Earth was destroyed so I want to make the universe a better place. You think too small, however. Brother Eye was just the beginning but you didn't take it far enough. You need to start taking shortcuts to justice."

Bruce ignored the red-haired teenager, instead walking over to where Deathstroke lay unconscious and picked up something familiar yet forbidden for him to ever use as the Batman. He then backhanded Alexander, sending the boy to the ground as he stared cold daggers at him.

"I know what Superman's going through." Bruce said flatly. "I know because it's happened too many times to me. He doesn't deserve that and neither did Superboy." He took out a gun from his cloak, the very same gun used to murder Thomas and Martha Wayne years before, and aimed it at Alexander. He ignored the pleading from the current Robin, Tim Drake, not to use it. He ignored the frightened look on the face of Alexander. All he saw was the victims of madmen like him.

"Tell me... what do you deserve?" He then pulled the trigger, expecting to hear the familar crack of a gunshot ripping into the skull of the Luthor of Earth-3. Instead, only the click of an empty cartridge greeted him.

"Bruce!" He heard the voice of Diana call out, seeing him walk over out of the corner of his eye. He didn't want to hear what she had to say right now. This had to end once and for all.

"Stay out of this, Diana." Bruce told the former Amazon, his concentration only on the pathetic spectacle in front of him.

"Bruce, listen. If you murder him, you'll be commiting the same crime that forced you to become the Batman. You'll be as bad as the ones you've condemned all these years." She took out her Sword of Hephestus, at first seeming to be willing to commit the very same crime she warned her friend not to do. She then cast it aside, hearing it clatter against the rocks on the ground as she gently laid a hand on his shoulder.

"It not worth it." Diana said finally. "He's not worth it."

Bruce conteplated the words of his friend and former Justice League teammate, knowing the deep down she was right. That one act would go against everything he had set for himself as both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Disgusted, he threw the gun to the side as he clenched his fists.

"I know. Dammit, I know."

"Don't think this makes you any better, Wonder Woman." Alexander spat as he rose from the ground. "You've been the worst one of all..." Suddenly, the walls he was backed into came crashing down on top of him as a blur of red and blue energy shot past, speeding it's way into the skies and beyond. Diana helped Batman to his feet, seeing an almost-transparent figure standing before her with a relieved smile on her face. She looked somewhat like her sister, Donna, her hair in an ebony ponytail and a fearless look in her eyes. The costume held elements of her own and Donna's, seeming nearly familiar as it faded with the sunlight.

"What was..." She muttered to herself as Batman stood beside her, his arm on her shoulder for support. "What was that blur?"

"I have a feeling who it was." Bruce said, noticing that some blood began to leak from the rubble. "Is he...?"

"I don't know." Diana told him, helping him to get to his young sidekicks.

--------

YOU CANNOT WIN!+ The Anti-Monitor bellowed as he sped rapidly into space, the superheroes of Earth following behind him. Leading the way were both Supermen, each wanting to end this creature's threat for similar reasons.

"He's already heading past the moon." Green Lantern John Stewart noted. "At the speed we're flying, there's no way we can catch him."

"We've got to try." Clark told him. Suddenly, a red and blue blur shot past them and slammed into the Anti-Monitor, making him crash onto the surface of the moon. As the light faded around the figure. Clark smiled with both relief and surprise.

"Still think you can win?" The voice belonged to seemingly-dead Superboy, Connor Kent, now obviously back among the living. His costume had changed, resembling the uniform he wore while in the 31st century with the Legion of Superheroes. The "S" symbol on his chest was his recent red and black design, the reverse being on the cape, and his hair matched Superboy-Prime's. But the face and voice belonged definitely to Connor.

"Connor?!?" Clark asked, he and the other superheroes speeding towards the moon. "How did you..."

"It's a long story and I'll explain later, Superman." Connor told his mentor. He was then hit in the back with a blast of anti-matter from the Anti-Monitor's armor.

YOUR IMPUTENCE IS BECOMING ANNOYING, SUPERBOY.+ The Anti-Monitor spoke as he took off once more, speeding faster and faster away from the heroes below. +IN SPITE OF YOUR CONTINUING INTERFERENCE, I WILL STILL SUCCEED IN DECIMATING YOUR CONTINUUM.+

"I think I know how we might stop him." Connor told the small group as Clark helped him to his feet. "Since he's anti-matter incarnate, the only thing that can shut him down is an equal amount of positive matter. That means..."

"That means there only one thing standing between him and Oa that can stop him." Kal-L added, turning to his younger counterpart. "Superman, I want you to stay here with your friends. I'll go with Superboy to stop the Anti-Monitor."

"You two alone can't face him." Clark retorted. "If you go after him without anyone's help..."

"We won't be alone. Besides, there's only room enough in this universe for one Superman." He placed a hand on his counterpart's shoulder, smiling in satisfaction. "I know you're it. Just never forget why you wear that symbol or who you are... and promise you'll take care of Kara for me." With that, the Golden Age inspiration and the Boy of Steel took off after the Anti-Monitor at super-speed.

"Kal, wait!" Kara called after her vanishing cousin, Martain Manhunter's arms keeping her from trying to go after them. "KAL!!!"

"I must apologize, Power Girl, but I read Superman's mind." J'Onn explained to the blonde superheroine. "This is something only he and Superboy can accomplish without you because they've done it before... and they're is no certainty they will return from this alive."

-------

The Anti-Monitor sped up as he apporached Space Sector 0001, the sector belonging to Oa and the Guardians. A satisfied gasp escaped his maw as he came closer to his goal. Soon, the universe will start over, broken down and reconstructed in HIS image and HIS alone. Suddenly he found himself enveloped with glowing green energy, a frustrated growl escaping him as he saw the hundreds of members from the Green Lantern Corps surrounding him.

"Let's see Mr. Wanna-Be Universe Destroyer get past a three-hundred- mile thick wall of pure willpower." the voice of Guy Gardner said as his ring's energy was added to the mix.

DO NOT INTERFERE WITH POWERS BEYOND YOU, GREEN LANTERNS!!!+ The Anti-Monitor unleashed wave after wave of deadly anti-matter at the various Green Lanterns, killing many of them as their rings scattered across space. +YOU CANNOT FATHOM WHAT I MUST ACCOMPLISH!+

"Code-54, Lanterns!" Guy called out as the group blasted the being with green energy. "Use of excessive force has been authorized AND encouraged!"

ENOUGH!!!+ The Anti-Monitor bellowed as he blasted a straight line through the Corps to Oa, determined that nothing shall keep him from his goal. +NONE CAN STOP ME FROM MY DESTINED MISSION!+

"Think again,. monster!" The being was slammed away at superspeed by the combined might of Superman-2 and Superboy, forcing the Anti-Monitor to collide with a nearby asteroid. The duo pounded their fists into him again and again, forcing him farther and farther from Oa and nearly dodging the deadly beams of anti-matter.

YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED, SUPERMAN!+ The Anti-Monitor told the Golden Age hero. +THERE IS NOWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE THAT CAN IMPRISON ME, NOTHING THAT CAN OBLITERATE ME!+

"Nowhere except where it all started, you creep!" Connor told him, his heat vision melting small pieces of the armor. The Anti-Monitor looked, seeing that they were headed towards the location where it indeed began: the remains of Krypton. He laughed maniacally at his would-be e executioners' stupidity, seeing a large plothole in their plan.

"Superboy, I'll take it from here." Kal-L told the Boy of Steel. "You need to head back to Earth to help your friends."

"No way!" Connor replied. "I'm not going to leave you here to die, Superman!"

"No arguments! It'll be pointless if we both die! Your universe still needs you, you and your entire generation's hope for tommorrow. Without it, all of this will start over again. Now get going!"

DIE!!!!+ Superboy was blasted from the Anti-Monitor by a wave of anti-matter, leaving the Superman of Earth-2 as the last hope for stopping him. +SO WHAT NOW, SUPERMAN? DO YOU STILL THINK YOU CAN DESTROY ME WITHOUT YOUR YOUNGER COUNTERPART'S PROTEGE?+

"Who said I'm the one whose going to destroy you?" Kal-L told the force of evil, pushing beyond the ring of Kryptonite surrounding the only force strong enough to destryo the Anti-Monitor.

KRYPTON'S DORMANT SUN?+ The Anti-Monitor exclaimed.

"Somebody's got to finally shut you down the hard way, and right now, this looks like a job for Superman!" Kal-L smiled proudly as he forced the being closer and closer into the sun's corona, bearing the painful brunt of both the Anti-Monitor's anti-matter beams and the heat of the sun on his weakening skin.

YOU FOOL!!!+ The Anti-Monitor shouted, his armor finally cracking and melting under the intense pressure and heat. +YOUR BRAVADO WILL KILL US BOTH!!!+

"Maybe, but it's worth it if it gives this universe a second chance." Kal-L could feel himself beginning to disintergrate from the rush of matter and anti-matter colliding, feeling that his reason for living was renewed for the first time in twenty years. This was why he, Kara, and the others survived. They were supposed to set the tone for the generations to come later, to give their successors a new start. After nearly sixty years, he could finally rest.

"Lois... I'm coming..." The Golden Age hero of Earth-2 called Superman whispered as he finally faded in the explosion of matter and anti-matter, the shockwave rippling across the universe and undoing the damage twenty years of reconstruction had done. For now, the Crisis was finally over.

------

Several Days later...

------

"You know, things just aren't the same since I can't fly anymore." Clark Kent commented as he walked towards Gotham City Harbor with Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince, the three of them finally acting like the friends they once were. "When the shockwave hit, my powers got knocked completely out. I'm definitely going to miss it."

"At least Connor's still alive, and where's there's life dwells hope." Diana added. " For now, at least, there is hope for tomorrow."

"What is in your future, Diana?" Bruce asked, genuinely curious since the Amazons were apparently gone.

"I'm going overseas for a while, try to rediscover who Diana truly is." The former Amazon princess told them both. "And you, Bruce? What will you be doing since Gotham will be without Batman for a while?"

Bruce brought his attention to a small cruise ship, where Tim Drake waved at the from the port side. A small smile crept to his nermally stoic face as he regarded the boy he thought of like a second son.

"I'm going to retrace the steps I took to become the Batman." Bruce told them as he boarded the ship. "But this time I'm not doing it alone. This time, I'm doing things right from the start."

"I know we'll always have our differences," Clark noted, "but at the end of the day we all stand for the same thing. Truth and Justice. When Earth needs us again, we'll find a way."

"All of us will." Diana added as she clasped Bruce's hand warmly, glad to see that he was beginning to finally let go of the darkness in his life. "Take care of yourself."

"You too." He gestered to both her and Clark. "Take care of each other." With that, the small ship set sail for parts unknown. Diana then turned to her friend, a wartm smile gracing her Grecian features.

"Do you need a ride somewhere, Diana?" Clark asked.

"No, I think I'll manage." Diana then wrapped her friend in a hug, a strangely-familiar feeling of warmth spreading between them. It felt good, somehow, like both of them were finally ready to move on with their lives. When she let go, she almost laughed at Clark's boyish blushing.

"It's good to have friends, Clark. Don't forget that." The former Wonder Woman then rose up into the cockpit of her invisible plane, leaving the former Superman standing alone on the docks with a smile on his face as he walked home to his wife and his new life. The Crisis was over but the three former heroes can rest for now, confident that the Earth and their future is in safe hands.

Never The End.


End file.
